Cardiff GP 2025 Cancelled

[AFCB Wildcat]

22 minutes ago, AceBelle said:

come out of NSS turn left walk down kirky lane ASDA will be on you're left turn turn right on main road towards mc/r royal hospital you are there near old BBC studios !!

New broadcasting house? 

That was still 2.5 miles from NSS

[AFCB Wildcat]

41 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Again it’s not the point the guy was making, I understand and I’m sure everyone understands the pitfalls etc of booking something but that’s not why he doesn’t have sympathy for people who have booked 

Exactly.

Often it's much cheaper to pay up front, with the no ammendments,no refunds option. 

Obviously it's a gamble and if something goes wrong in your life, meaning that you can't go, or a natural phenomena makes travel impossible, that's the chance you're prepared to take when you choose that option and you suck it up.

With the Cardiff GP though, it's not  going to be a rain off, so I think someone would have a legitimate complaint when the rug has been pulled by the organiser in this fashion after they had announced the date when they must have known it wasn't certain to happen.

[fatface]

2 hours ago, RPNY said:

Sad day, really sad. The 3 home wins were as good as atmosphere as I can ever remember at any sports event Ive been to, Bomber in 2007 in particular.

 

With regards to this being 'inevitable' I understand that but why was it ever put on the calendar? Its inexcusable really is. This lot keep making bold promises they do not keep and we now have a series in sub par stadiums with the only 2 riders that have a chance of beating BZ not allowed in the series its been a shambles. The business model is be propped up by Polish money and therefore they dictate what goes on. There will be a minimum 3 permanent Polish riders from 2026 onwards, will be 3-5 Polish GPs minimum, the PMZ will block Artem and Emil ever getting back into the series and unless a very wealthy individual decides they want to stage a GP in another country we will see no new venues. WBD have delivered on pretty much zero that they promised and its not a great surprise as I would assume none of them had even heard of speedway pre 2021...

Agree with a lot of that. Shouldn't have been on the calendar. BUT...what I strongly suspect is that organisers have to get the calendar out early and Cardiff was dependent upon funding from Welsh Govt. I expect that has been pulled, after all, if it's not attracting numbers and doing good business, then why would you invest tax payer money in it? Once that went, it's not viable.

As for Poland, well, that's the reality of where the sport is. It's the only lucrative market for speedway on the planet. He who pays the piper calls the tune. 

Let's not forget there was a time when the World Final was held in the UK every year and riders qualified for that direct from the British Final. Same situation, different country.

I think the best way to process this is to be grateful for the 20 odd years we had at Cardiff. Few of us imagined speedway ever getting back into a major UK stadium after Wembley. It did and it was a joyful experience - particularly 2007. 

[IainB]

There was something very up when they "announced" the dates so long after they usually do, which had been at the actual event previously, which is why I surmised it wasn't actually going to happen until tickets went on sale. But even I'm surprised at the way they've handled this, no explanation, just a twitter post, put the out of office on and do a runner for Christmas. 

[longmeadow]

1 hour ago, longmeadow said:

 

Absolutely rubbish decision. Best weekend of the  year. No way am i going anywhere near manchester. Two nights in the most depressing city in the world

[r8gdp]

Sadly the whole thing as turned into a circus the points scoring the fact that you can finish 10 th in the meeting and still win the gp really, the lunatic s are finally running the asylum god help us 

[Neila]

11 hours ago, foreverblue said:

Why would anyone leave Cumbria to go to Manchester

No airports in Cumbria so got to go to Manchester to get a flight to a GP abroad 

[flagrag]

4 hours ago, MattB said:

The decision itself is not a huge surprise.  I went to every Cardiff GP from 2001 to this year's, and 2024 did have the feel of a final visit.

However, the way it's been handled stinks.  If they had doubts about viability,  then drop Cardiff when they set the calendar.  To put it in, allow fans to arrange (expensive) accommodation etc, then move the goalposts three months later is a huge own goal.

Just for clarity this is not a WBD decision to cancel Cardiff .My understanding is that the company that have put Cardiff on for the last two years were planning to do it again in 2025 however due to the low crowds the stadium have increased the rental costs considerably for 2025 abb they lost money last year on staffing costs as very little customer spend inside the stadium. Speedway also ties the stadium up for 9 days and means paying lots of extra money for security.

Expect to see a major concert to fill the gap when the Speedway GP was planned to be 

[IainB]

17 minutes ago, flagrag said:

Just for clarity this is not a WBD decision to cancel Cardiff .My understanding is that the company that have put Cardiff on for the last two years were planning to do it again in 2025 however due to the low crowds the stadium have increased the rental costs considerably for 2025 abb they lost money last year on staffing costs as very little customer spend inside the stadium. Speedway also ties the stadium up for 9 days and means paying lots of extra money for security.

Expect to see a major concert to fill the gap when the Speedway GP was planned to be 

Oh what a tangled web they weave. They are the rights holders and ultimately the consequences of this decision, whoever made it, will reflect badly on them with the Speedway fraternity. Why on earth they've bid for and won the rights to stage the competition and then, from what you've just said, seemingly subbed it out is a bizarre business decision! Who is this mystery company that stages SGP's and do they stage any others?

Edited December 20, 2024 by IainB

[ovalfan]

Cardiffs good but been a bit samey when ive gone. And too expensive. Not sure about running it 2 days running. They could look into holding one at Odsal.

[mikebv]

3 hours ago, longmeadow said:

Absolutely rubbish decision. Best weekend of the  year. No way am i going anywhere near manchester. Two nights in the most depressing city in the world

Do you live in Coventry? 

Isn't it twinned with Gaza? ..

[pauljb]

15 hours ago, philfromcov said:

Thought it was odd last year. Waited till two weeks to go and got 9 tickets for £180. Front row of top tier over the pits. Great but did smell of desperation 

Same as, got mine about a month before, front of the top tier on the start finish line, couldn't believe how empty it was 

[pauljb]

15 hours ago, IainB said:

I shall be accepting apologies from all of those that scoffed when I called this months ago. I'll even let you have a large serving of Christmas humble pie 🥧 🎅🏿😂🎄

Was strange at the time always used to announce the date and ticket's on sale the next day

[foreverblue]

What I find a bit strange is to cancel this event when last year was actually pretty good which would encourage more people to go and how do they manage to make it viable in other smaller nations that dont have many or any GP riders.

[IainB]

37 minutes ago, foreverblue said:

What I find a bit strange is to cancel this event when last year was actually pretty good which would encourage more people to go and how do they manage to make it viable in other smaller nations that dont have many or any GP riders.

WBD managed to half the crowd from the moment they took over and then did pretty much nothing in the way of promotion to tempt those people back. Like @flagrag said they need to rent the stadium for a period of time to put the track in and that won't come cheap and then all of a sudden the numbers stop adding up. This time the decision truly has been made for "commercial reasons" but you can't help but think that if IMG were still the rights holders we'd all be off to Cardiff again next summer.

[Bagpuss]

23 hours ago, SaddlebowRoad said:

not ideal but ive thought for a while that cardiff had run its course as a gp however good the social side of the weekend was 

the sums not adding up isnt a surprise

Yep I'd agree with that. I've not been for a few years and ironically was probably going to make the effort in 2025 but costs going up and crowds going down was only ever going to end one way.

Feel for those who have lost money on hotels and whether they should have covered their own backsides is another argument, at the end of the day if a speedway event with a roof is scheduled then it's extremely rare for it to not go ahead.

On the bright side we should get two excellent meetings in Manchester if the weather behaves. Hope to be there for one of them if ticket prices are sensible.

[old bob at herne bay]

Dwindling number of UK tracks= fewer UK speedway supporters. 

So many supporters “lost “ by track closures in vast swathes of England. Some retain an interest to follow the sport on social media and TV , but travelling hundreds of miles year after year  to shell out hundreds of pounds for tix and hotels to watch riders who mean diddly squat to them ? Not likely. 
 

Still if EVERY Belle Vue supporter turned up to support Danny Beaulieu …guess that might be 1000 … 

 

 

[AceBelle]

13 hours ago, longmeadow said:

Absolutely rubbish decision. Best weekend of the  year. No way am i going anywhere near manchester. Two nights in the most depressing city in the world

Says someone from Coventry 

[AceBelle]

10 hours ago, ovalfan said:

Cardiffs good but been a bit samey when ive gone. And too expensive. Not sure about running it 2 days running. They could look into holding one at Odsal.

Deluded

[AceBelle]

1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Dwindling number of UK tracks= fewer UK speedway supporters. 

So many supporters “lost “ by track closures in vast swathes of England. Some retain an interest to follow the sport on social media and TV , but travelling hundreds of miles year after year  to shell out hundreds of pounds for tix and hotels to watch riders who mean diddly squat to them ? Not likely. 
 

Still if EVERY Belle Vue supporter turned up to support Danny Beaulieu …guess that might be 1000 … 

 

 

Deluded